A system for driving antennas plays a key role in achieving desired antenna performance. In certain implementations, like when an antenna is part of an antenna array, considerations of performance, cost, complexity, and reliability affect the design of the antenna driving system. If an antenna system is outdoors, to aid in the performance and reliability of the system in the case of a lightning strike, it is useful to incorporate lightning protection equipment into the system. One exemplary solution for providing lightning protection is to install a lightning rod close to the antenna. Another exemplary solution is to integrate a lightning protection rod into the antenna array system.
For some linear antenna array systems, the antenna driving system has been deployed inside a center metal pipe used to support the antenna array, so that the antenna driving system is isolated from radiators that occur outside but close to the center pipe. Both the lightning ground connection and the driving circuits may be arranged inside the center pipe. In constructing the driving circuits inside the center pipe, some driving circuits use RF cables and some use striplines or microstrip lines. The microstrip lines and striplines are more lossy than their RF counterparts, so when the insertion loss is critical to the system performance, the higher-loss stripline structure is restricted for use in applications such as the one discussed above or other applications where the insertion loss is less critical to the system performance.